The Fightlinker radio server is up and going in anticipation for tonight’s post-event live show. We’ll be playing random classic episodes of the Low Blow all afternoon so feel free to try it out and see how shweet our setup is.

Just a final reminder before the festivities begin! Tonight at 10pm EST sharp the Fightlinker staff will be at Mission Control ready to live blog the UFC 78 PPV. Are we gonna cover the dark matches? FUCK NO! We’re gonna stick straight to what we see on our TV … no elitist “I was there neener neener” shit.

Directly following the event we’ll be going live on the air to do a special Low Blow devoted entirely to the show. We’ll be taking your questions in the comments section of the site. Oh, such fanfare! Such monumental occasion! It will be a challenge not to pee myself from the excitement!

So join us tonight as we unite lonely people with no real friends and comfort each other with our collective pseudo net presence.

Earlier this week, New Jersey attorney general Anne Milgram made the mistake of thinking she could fire the best Athletic Commission head in the United States and no one would notice. And while it’s taking a few days for this story to percolate into a full bodied shitstorm, it’s definitely on the way.

Larry Hazzard not only has a totally awesome name, but he also happens to be extremely competent at his job as head of the New Jersey State Athletic Commission. He was also in charge when New Jersey sanctioned MMA … the first state in the US to do it. It’s pretty rare to have someone heading an athletic commission who isn’t a complete retard, so people are kinda up in arms over this ‘because we felt like it’ firing.

Upon returning Thursday afternoon from the funeral for his 41-year-old nephew, Louis Arenas, who had died of a heart attack, Hazzard was met by Kim Ricketts, a senior administrator with the Divison of Law and Public Safety, which oversees the NJSACB.

“She offered her condolences on behalf of [New Jersey Attorney General] Anne Milgram for my loss,” said Hazzard, who was appointed by Gov. Thomas Kean in late 1985 and sworn in on Feb. 27, 1986. “Then she said, ‘We also would like to thank you for your many years of service.’ ”

With that, Hazzard was told to clear out his office. Security escorted him from the building.

In a letter sent to the governor on Oct. 23, a copy of which was obtained by The Star-Ledger, Hazzard’s attorney, James J. Binns, claimed his client was told “not to document the malfeasance and misfeasance” of a board employee even though it “jeopardized the welfare of contestants.” Among the concerns, Binns wrote, were the employee’s decisions to sanction mismatches in mixed martial arts contests, to okay a fighter who failed to test negative for HIV and to allow promoters to “shop” for medical approvals for their fighters.

Hazzard’s attorney also complained about a decision by the Attorney General’s Office to transfer “an individual with no experience” to the state Athletic Control Board by creating a new title that paid $90,000 a year.

Nothing like the government firing someone for writing up an overpaid, no experience AG lackey for almost letting a fighter with AIDS in the ring. This is the kind of shit you expect in Russia 10 years ago, not New Jersey.

This is definitely only the beginning of this story, but the one thing we know for sure right now is that boxing and MMA have lost a key figure in the most forward thinking and well run athletic commissions in the country. Lets just cross our fingers and hope Hazzard isn’t replaced by someone like Armando Garcia.

“Sean Sherk can say it’s a fake interim title, but his belt is no more real that Marion Jones’ gold medals,” Penn told a gathering of the UFC Fight Club before Friday’s weigh-in for UFC 78 at the Prudential Center.

Jones is the U.S. sprinter and multiple Olympic medallist who recently admitted to using performance enhancing drugs.

“Looking at him, he doesn’t look like he’s ever done steroids in his life,” Penn, his tongue firmly lodged in his cheek, said of the musclebound Sherk.

Penn also ripped Sherk for failing to finish fights, noting he needed five rounds to beat Hermes Franca at UFC 73.

“He made us sit through that whole thing with Hermes Franca,” said Penn.

I’m glad someone is getting on Sherk’s case for being the lamest champion ever. I’ll have to email BJ with a list of the insults we’ve developed here at Fightlinker to help him out in future interviews. There’s just so many reasons to hate on Sean.

Of course, this builds things up nicely for an epic showdown between Penn and Sherk … no word yet on if Dana White is bleeding from the ears at BJ’s “Sherk is a fucking juiced up cheater” media tour.